GTD This Weekend: New Year’s, If You’re Into That Sort of Thing

My neighbor says that I have to celebrate the New Year’s on-time arrival even if I think it’s the most overrated, and anti-climatic, of all holidays. If I don’t, “It’s like you’re old people.” Bah, humbug.

NEW YEAR’S EVE

For those of you who are not a Grinch on New Year’s Eve, Caroline on Crack has a great roundup of parties with open bars. Ideally, you’ll remember what you were doing the second when 2010 became 2011, but if you’re like me at an open bar, you’ll be lucky if you remember where you’re crashing for the night.

For the slightly more refined, Kristin Chenoweth has a one-woman concert at the Walt Disney Hall. Tickets are expensive and don’t include drinks, but I did say this is the more refined option, right? Ticket prices from expensive ($74) to very expensive ($191). 7:00pm and 10:30pm at the Walt Disney Hall downtown.

SATURDAY

Assuming you’re not old people and celebrated the turn of the clock from 11:59pm to 12:00am, you’re probably hungover from all that champagne and wine and other libations. Susan Feniger has a special New Year’s Hangover Brunch Menu at Street, as does Dominick’s in West Hollywood. LA Weekly has a nifty list of other brunch leads, some with morning alcohol libations, so you can party like it was 2010.

The annual Rose Parade starts at 7am, so my advice to you is to avoid Pasadena altogether unless your vehicle of choice is a lawn chair. Frazgo has details of the related road closures here.

After the traffic nightmare officially ends, do what you can’t do even if you watched the parade live: stop and smell the flowers. After the parade, the floats will be parked at the end of the route for public viewing. If you have any questions, White Suiters will be around to answer them. Ah, Pasadena, where all your old money fairy tales come true. $10, free for kids 5 and under. The floats are on display from 1pm to 5pm on Saturday and 9am to 5pm on Sunday at Sierra Madre and Washington in Pasadena. Full details here.

What better way to kick off the new year than a cemetery tour of celebrity graves? Karen Bible leads you through the “Cemetary of the Stars Tour”, which is sort of like a guided tour of celebrity homes, except the celebrities are dead, and the homes are their final resting spots. You’ll visit the sites of Cecil DeMille, Tyrone Power, and other superstars of the studio system yesteryear. $12. Meet at the flower shop of the Hollywood Forever Cemetary at noon.

Here’s one I always wanted to see on the big screen: The Egyptian will be showing off a restored print of The Godfather Part II. An industry town need not be reminded that this is one of the greatest movies ever made, ever. $7-11. Showtime is at 7:30 at the Egyptian Theater.

SUNDAY

Bleedfest is a monthly film festival featuring “edgy genre work” by women filmmakers. The organizers go there even if you didn’t (you didn’t?): “Just like women’s monthly friend, Bleedfest comes like clockwork!” – meaning, the first Sunday of the month is their time of the month. Sunday’s theme is “Western and Genre Goulash.” $10, which includes a ticket to all shows and an open bar. 11am to 3:30pm at the CAP Theater, 13752 Ventura Blvd in Sherman Oaks.

Ice Age Encounters at the Natural History Museum is a special exhibit with a life-sized saber-toothed … cat puppet. Yes, I also thought I was going to see a Power Ranger, but alas. The puppet roars, it hunts, it’s “realistic enough to take your breath away.” In case you didn’t get the idea, the museum warns, “Please note, this is not a small hand puppet.” The exhibit teaches about the trials and tribulations of the cat as it tries to survive Snowpacolypse, Ice Age edition. Don’t tell me how it ends. Free with museum admission. Wander the halls, then go to the show at 12pm and again at 3:30. The Natural History Museum is located at 900 Exposition Blvd, near USC.

The Egyptian Theater shows off another great series, this time a triple feature of the Indiana Jones trilogy. Yes, I’m aware that there was a fourth, but it was as non-existent as Superman IV: The Quest for Blahblah. $7-11. The series kicks off at 3pm at the Egyptian Theater, 6712 Hollywood Blvd, in Hollywood.

Double negatives are often the best way to describe something. Take, for example, Upright Citizen Brigade’sNot Inappropriate Show, a properly rated comedy show by adults for kids. Parents who put helmets and kneepads on their poor child before letting them ride the trusty trike may be unnecessarily wary of sketches like “Animal Stars,” a Sea World version of Creature Comforts. For parents who still let their kids ride a trike sans overly protective gear: bring the family and enjoy the show. $12. 4pm at the UCB Theater, 5919 Franklin in Hollywood. The show is recommended for kids 8 and up.